Gone
by DawnBlazeAbigail99
Summary: Instead of being shot in the wing, Max takes a hit to the chest when she mistakenly turns back to the boys in TAE. Small Fax. Rated T for blood and character death.


**Well, this is a change! I usually write Warriors FF, so this is my first Maximum Ride oneshot. I don't exactly know if it's good or not, but hopefully it's the former! No flames, please, though I'm open to suggestions.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Max and her merry band of mutants, do you think I'd be writing FF about them? Sadly, I do not own Maximum Ride.**

I hear the sharp crack before I feel the splitting pain in my chest. Black spots imprinting in my vision, I gasp and feel my legs give out below me. The pain is burning a hole in my chest. Oh wait, that's just the bullet.

_I'm dead._ That's the first thought that crosses my mind. My vision is clouded over and my eyes are ringing. My main two senses have failed me. I rely now on touch, just as Iggy has been doing for most of his life. I tentatively pressed a trembling hand to my chest while the other is holding my torso off the ground.

The worn t-shirt I wear is soaked through, that much I could tell. The liquid coating my fingers was thicker and stickier than sweat, the only other substance drenching my body.

Blood.

My fingers probe further, searching out the source of pain. It doesn't take long to find the hole in my chest to the left and right above my heart.

A harsh, bitter laugh escapes my lips. I've been shot before, but never this badly. The chuckle morphs into a barely muffled sob. I couldn't leave the Flock now. I told Fang and Nudge that I would see them again. I have a mission to complete. I have to rescue Angel…_Angel_…

My baby. I'm leaving her all alone with no one to care for her in the midst of the School. An image of her drifts across the mind, her adorable blonde princess curls framing her soft face and her trusting big blue eyes looking up at me with a wide grin plastered on her face.

No. _No!_ This can't be happening. My Flock needs me! I can't abandon them like this! As tears slide down my face, my throat became clogged and I couldn't breathe. Coughing, I didn't need to be able to see correctly to know that I was spitting up blood.

My supporting arm collapses then, being too weak to hold me up. My cheek hits the ground and I cough a little, spraying the grass red. The pain is receding, but then again, so is my ability to stay fully awake and alert…well, as alert as I can be with a bullet burrowed in my chest. My eyes slid closed.

Fang and Nudge…How will they react when they found out that I was dead? Will they continue on with the mission? I knew Nudge would be upset that I was gone, but Fang was another subject entirely. He didn't express any emotion. None. Zero. Zilch. Nada. _Ever._ What was he going to do when he found out? He would be leader then and God knows I've never seen him display much of his leader skills. Will he be angry that I left them like this after everything we've been through with the School?

Gazzy and Iggy…God I am so stupid. I left an eight year-old with a blind kid and both of them liked to blow things up with their homemade bombs. I'm an idiot.

"Max!"

_I'm going insane_, I think briefly. For a second there, I had thought that I'd heard someone call my name. They sounded far away…

"Max!"

_Maybe I didn't imagine it…_

"Max, I swear to God if you don't open your eyes right now, I will _murder_ you!"

_Empty threats…_I recognize Fang's voice. What is he doing here? He should have taken Nudge away!

I decide to appease Fang and my eyes open slowly, and they find his dark ones immediately. I blink in surprise when I see relief wash over him. The crease between his eyebrows disappears, but the rigidness in his shoulders stays all the same.

"Max…" he trailed off, his obsidian gaze holding my own. "What happened?"

"I'm stupid," I hiss under my breath. My voice is rough from the coughing and my voice sounds weak. I wince at the sound of it. Looking past Fang, I discover Nudge nowhere to be found. "Where's Nudge?"

"Our meeting place," he replies.

"I'm sorry."

Fang leans in closer, the crease returning as he stares at me in bewilderment. "For what?"

"For leaving you and the Flock like this," I grind out through clenched teeth. I can feel my lungs rattling with every breath. My chest feels heavy, too, as if someone has lain a brick right on it.

"No! You aren't leaving us!" I can see the panic and horror in his eyes. "Max, you'll be _fine_!"

I smile slightly. "You and I both know that you're wrong. I'm as dead as all my old alarm clocks that the boys got their hands on."

Fang dismisses my small joke with a furious shake of his head. "No. _You_ are the one who is wrong. We can get help! I'll find someone. Then we can go and rescue Angel. You are not going to die, Max."

"Fang," I cut him off before he can say more, "You're in denial. Just shut up. I'm going to die whether or not you like it."

Another bought of coughing stops me from continuing and I see Fang tightly shut his eyes as blood splatters the ground, staining it scarlet.

After I fall quiet, I'm tired and my breathing has become labored and shallow. My chest, which has been burning for the past however long it's been since I've been shot, is now cold and I feel nothing now. It's almost time. I just need one last request.

"Fang," I say, bringing my companion to open his eyes. "Please promise me that you'll look after them, please. They have to have a leader."

"I don't know if I can," Fang whispered, his voice straining.

"Please Fang," my hand finds one of his. My skin is deathly pale and my palm is still slick with drying blood. "Watch over them. If not for their own sakes, do it for me then."

Fang nods wordlessly, his face a mask of grief. I was wrong, he _does_ portray emotions from time to time. "I'll miss you, Max," he says softly, leaning down further to place a kiss on my forehead. "So much."

His kiss was a surprise to me, but there's nothing I can do or say about it. I'm barely able to whisper just one word alone, "Goodbye," before my eyes shut and my vision is being sucked down a drain along with the rest of my senses. I am unconscious. There is nothing I can do. I feel nothing. Angel, Fang—_everyone_ is gone.

Everything is…

Gone.

Maximum Ride is…

Dead.

**I hope it was at least a little entertaining! R&R please and maybe I'll write some more!**

**P.S. I usually write in past tense, but I figured I would try present tense on this one. If you find a place where I screwed up, please alert me.**


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